New India

Sir,

The Statement of the CC of the CGPI entitled 'Building a new India requires getting rid of the old exploitative system and the oppressive State!' in the Sept. 1-15, 2017 issue of MEL is a thought provoking piece. The Statement was issued in the wake of the 70th Independence Day observance and as a response to the call of the PM where he called for building a "New India" over 5 years (!), in India without poverty, corruption, communalism and discrimination.

This could have been dismissed as comic relief except for the fact that it is so serious and actually spells a continuing tragedy for the people of India, who have waited for 70 years for liberation from precisely the ills that were spelt out by the PM, and whose hopes and aspirations lie in ruins today. The call is so fantastic and so absurd, that it may be easier to ignore, but one cannot afford to do so. It is, as if, the PM is playing yet another cruel joke on the people of India since all the policies of his Government have been to deepen the poverty, accelerate the concentration of wealth on the opposite pole in the hands of the biggest monopolies and properties sections, activities that have only engendered misery through attacks on the people of the country through goon squads, terror attacks, state terror and repression, and the most blatant discrimination whipping up chauvinism of every ugly kind.

On the other end lies the immortal and evergreen call of Shahi Bhagat Singh who had stated that the struggle for revolution will not stop until a handful of men in power continue to exploit the country. This latent revolutionary fervour runs through the length and breadth of the country. The empty words of the PM are a vain attempt to convince the people of India that their future is safe in his hands, while all facts point only to the contrary. The PM and his Government use the entire state machinery built up over the first 90 years of direct colonial rule and the next 70 years of rule in the hands of the brown masters, who have shown great enthusiasm to use their arbitrary power to protect only their power. The challenge in the past and in the present has always from the people who themselves have no power.

The Statement is partly in the language of an open address to the PM by the CC wherein many questions are posed, which when recalled bring into sharp focus the debate itself. The PM has been asked:

whether one can build a new India without getting rid of the old system and State which (actually) block the way,

whether an even as small an attempt to curb corruption as through the seizing assets of capitalist defaulters has ever been made,

why foreign investors who gut domestic industry and destroy jobs are being brought, when in the call there is a promise to end poverty,

why the note ban took place when it was foreseen that it would destroy thousands of jobs and concentration of capital,

why there is no attempt to understand the relations of production, especially in the era of monopoly domination, which ensures only poverty,

why nothing is done for farmers who are devasted by all the prior policies of the Government,

why there is intensifaction of privatization and liberalization which are responsible for massive cutbacks in social benefits,

why there is no much callouness, including towards the death of children, which is a result of man made conditions, and not a 'natural calamity' to recall a few questions.

The call of the PM is not new, since every PM has made such empty claims including the famous 'garibi hatao' slogan of Mrs. Indira Gandhi nearly 5 decades ago, and the reality is there for everyone to see. Furthermore, anyone opposed to the policies of the present Government is portrayed as anti-national.

Such being the case, the only truly fruitful path forward is to fight for the liberation for all, and to not believe the empty words of those in power. I support the call of the CC towards a new India - a new system and State that would guarantee prosperity and protection for all.

100 years ago Ghadar Party was formed by Indians in the US.It was historic milestone in our anti-colonial struggle.

The goal of this party was to organise a revolution to liberate our motherland from British servitude and establish a free and independent India with equal rights for all. It believed this to be the necessary condition for our people to hold their heads high anywhere in the world.

Call of the Central Committee of Communist Ghadar Party of India, 30th August, 2012

Working class representatives from all over the country are gathering on 4th September, at a time when a titanic struggle is going on in our country. The struggle is between the majority of toiling and exploited people and a minority of exploiters. It is between the majority whose labour expands wealth and the minority who enjoy the fruits of wealth creation on the basis of their private property and positions of power.

The initiating speech, at the working class conference on the Way Forward held on 23-24 December 2011, was made by comrade Lal Singh, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India. The document entitled the necessity for the working class to take political power has been edited based on the discussion in the conference and is being published according to the decision the Central Committee.